7 Ideas to Help Employees Wind Down on Friday Afternoons

When employees are overworked, it’s impossible for them to reach their full potential. Still, heavy workloads are quickly becoming a problem, as evidenced by our 2015 Employee Engagement Report. Believe it or not, nearly 70% of employees feel as though there aren’t enough hours in the week to get their work done.

If your company is guilty of drowning employees in work, there are two things you need to do. First, make it a top priority to take work off their plates before they burn out. Second, invest in activities that make work more enjoyable.

After a long, hard week in the office, everyone deserves some time to let loose. Unfortunately, not every company is quick to let their employees enjoy any sort of downtime in the office. If your organization finds itself in that category, it’s time to make a change.

Since, let’s face it, there isn’t anyone who works incredibly hard every single Friday afternoon, the end of the week is the perfect time for companies to host enjoyable team-building activities. Here are seven ways your team can start spending its Friday afternoons (or at least one Friday afternoon a month):

1. Office happy hour

When you schedule a happy hour outside of the office, you risk the chance that a number of employees won’t show up. Bring happy hour to the office, and your workers will have no choice but to stick around. In addition to taking the edge off, happy hours can help employees get to know each other on a deeper, more personal basis.

2. Catered lunch

What’s better than a free meal? Buy your employees lunch from a delicious caterer every Friday afternoon, and they’ll have something to look forward to — a prize of sorts — waiting for them at the end of the week.

3. Toss the Frisbee

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Exercise is directly correlated with productivity. Weather permitting, let your employees use Friday afternoons to play pickup sports like Frisbee, basketball, soccer, or softball. A little friendly competition can go a long way toward strengthening coworker bonds.

4. Work field trips

What do people do for fun in your city? If there’s a park nearby, head there for a picnic. Maybe there’s a museum in your city. Why not check out a new exhibit to tap into your team’s creative side? If you loved going on field trips when you were a young lad or lass, just wait until you go on one as an adult.

5. Professional development

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Instead of forcing your employees to stare at their computers and surf the web until it’s quitting time, use Friday afternoon for professional development. Don’t forget that opportunities for growth are what millennials are looking for at work.

6. Outside meetings

When the weather is nice, reschedule your weekly team meetings for Friday afternoons and hold them outdoors. In addition to being a welcome change of scenery, studies show that walking meetings encourage employees to be more creative.

7. Play video games

Dust off the old Nintendo 64, grab a copy of Goldeneye and four controllers, and kill some time with an epic 007 tournament. It goes without saying you can’t use Oddjob.